


rain: finding your voice

by SEMellark



Series: KHR Omegaverse [1]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: (of sorts), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Pack Dynamics, Self-Esteem Issues, Sexism, Suicide Attempt, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 10:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17282450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SEMellark/pseuds/SEMellark
Summary: Yamamoto took his hand after a brief moment. Not that Tsuna thought he wouldn't, but the fear was there nonetheless, of being rebuffed, overlooked. He moved to pull away as soon as Yamamoto righted himself, skin itching from the unfamiliar contact, but Yamamoto held fast.Tsuna looked up at him curiously, wondering if there was anything else that really needed to be said.He wasn't expecting Yamamoto to smile.





	rain: finding your voice

**Author's Note:**

> (when will I stop starting new projects before I finish previous ones. the answer is never.)
> 
> SO this is part of a larger series that depicts Tsuna unwittingly drawing others to him because he's warm and wonderful and inspires unwaveringly loyalty. So, the usual, but with an ABO twist. Tsuna/Hibari is the endgame "romantic" relationship (if I even get that far into the series), but Yamamoto is my fav, so he goes first. 
> 
> Here we goooo

Personally, Tsuna never thought being an omega was all that bad.

The kids he grew up with (usually the ones who grew up to be alphas) didn't seem to agree. They all spoke of being big, strong alphas with packs of their own to lead from a very early age. Tsuna never really understood, but if there were others who felt the same way, they never spoke up. Not after seeing how No Good Tsuna was taunted for wanting to be an omega like his mother.

He used to cry about it a lot when he was younger. Alpha or no, his mother was the strongest person Tsuna knew, and he didn't understand why he would be made fun of for wanting to be like her. She had raised him essentially on her own while maintaining both a home and her complicated relationship with Tsuna's father. Of course, they did receive a six-figure check every month from the man who, in Tsuna's opinion, wasn't an alpha of any particular strength or merit.

But even without the money, Tsuna had no doubt in his mind that his mother would've taken care of things completely on her own. He admired her for that, for smiling no matter how much her only son must have disappointed her. For smiling even when her husband never called. She was a solid force in Tsuna's life, the only one he'd ever known. So sue him for wanting to emulate that.

Over time, though, Tsuna began to doubt he could even become an omega like this mother. After he presented at twelve, the jeers from his classmates went from, "Why would you ever want to be an  _omega_?" to "Why would anyone ever want  _you_  as their omega?"

And Tsuna believed them. He wasn't at all like his mother. He couldn't smile in a bad situation. He didn't know how to keep his calm or be the person someone looked to for comfort. Tsuna was small and weak, physically and mentally. There wasn't much he could offer to anyone, especially not a potential partner.

So, where did that leave him? Just a weak omega with no prospects, his own mother being his only friend.

That was just his lot in life, Tsuna supposed. He tried to make the best of it.

***

The school rooftop was pretty much the only place where Tsuna could be alone.

Few places were safe from the bullies who'd been following Tsuna like shadows since elementary school. He could barely turn a corner without walking straight into conflict, and that made going to school a harrowing experience. Nana was long past the point of letting him stay home from school, although sometimes Tsuna's scent was just so scared and miserable that she would cuddle him for a few hours until his scent normalized and let him go in late. 

The roof was a tried and true safe space, mostly because the head of the Disciplinary Committee, Hibari Kyouya, liked to nap up there. Practically no one knew Hibari's schedule, so the roof was unofficially off-limits for fear of disturbing the most feared alpha in Namimori Middle.

Tsuna, on the other hand, had made it his life's mission to avoid other people at all costs, so he generally knew when Hibari was on the roof and when he wasn't. His keen sense of smell - keener than most, if his mother was to be believed - was a true asset in those instances. Hibari's scent was strong and overwhelming, so even if Tsuna's intuition was wrong, he could smell Hibari from the stairs and could hightail it out of there before the older alpha sensed him.

He headed up to the roof during lunch, having forgotten his at home in his typical morning rush to be on time. Nana had stopped bringing him his forgotten lunches when he started middle school. "How else will you learn to be responsible, Tsu-kun?" she'd said. Tsuna wasn't about to risk showing his face in the cafeteria, so he'd just decided to wait out the period in seclusion on the roof.

Tsuna sighed to himself, rolling the sleeves of his blazer up to his elbows. He was too hot and hungry and miserable for any of this. He just wanted to go home and curl up on the couch and watch crappy television with his mom until neither of them could keep their eyes open. They did that practically every Saturday night since Tsuna didn't have to be up early the next morning. Maybe it was lame, looking forward to going home to hang out with his mom at his age, but Tsuna couldn't really be bothered to care.

It was difficult to care about much  _besides_  his mom, these days.

He reached the top of the staircase, pushing open the door and stepping out onto the roof, taking in a huge breath. Tsuna's senses get muddled in the school building, too many scents flooding together and putting Tsuna on edge. That was another reason he liked the rooftop so much. Apart from the lingering traces of  _Hibari-san_  and  _alpha_ , Tsuna could pretend he was the only person in the entire world up here.

But not today. Tsuna stiffened, picking up on a scent that wasn't Hibari's. His first instinct was to turn and flee. He'd been so distracted by his hunger and foul mood that he hadn't even noticed the stranger's scent before he'd stepped outside, and he wasn't prepared to face anyone. Especially not if the person might want to have a go at No Good Tsuna.

Tsuna began to turn on his heel, every instinct in his body telling him to  _run,_ but Tsuna just... froze. Half facing the door, limbs locked into place, Tsuna stared across the roof at the figure standing just beside the ledge.

It was a boy. Beta. Tsuna could smell that much. But his fellow student obviously hadn't sensed Tsuna in return, because he took a shaky, measured step up onto the ledge.

Later, Tsuna would wonder what came over him. In the moment though, there was nothing to think about. Tsuna just knew he had to run. And he was _very_ good at running.

He bolted. He almost tripped in his desperation, in-door slippers ill-equipped for such abrupt movement. But Tsuna stayed upright, and he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He threw out an arm as he got closer, eyes widening as the boy began to lean forward. For a brief, horrifying moment, Tsuna thought that he was too late.

Perhaps miraculously, his reaching fingers found the fabric of the other boy's blazer. And Tsuna  _pulled._

They both fell back in a flailing mess of limbs, Tsuna barely stifling a shriek of pain as his elbows slammed into the concrete. He was pinned in place, the mysterious beta having landed on top of him. Tsuna pushed himself up on his palms, staring at the upside down face of the boy in his lap. They gaped at one another, silent, for a few moments.

"You," Tsuna began, but nothing followed. He didn't know what he could even say in that situation.

After another few moments of silence, the beta pushed himself off Tsuna's lap and slowly shuffled around to face him. Tsuna blinked a few times, trying to process exactly what he was seeing. "Y - Yamamoto-kun?"

Yamamoto Takeshi frowned at him, mouth set in a firm line. Tsuna could barely believe it. He'd known Yamamoto for years. Their parents had been friends back in the day, although they rarely saw one another now. Tsuna and Yamamoto had never really exchanged more than a few polite words over the years, but Tsuna liked to think that he understood people pretty well.

Yamamoto was someone who was always laughing, always smiling, and never had anything bad to say about anyone. He was on the baseball team, one of the few betas who'd managed to beat out the physically superior alphas, and he worked hard to maintain his position. Tsuna had seen him on the baseball field after school, swinging a bat through the air long after the other boys on the team had left.

The person kneeling before Tsuna now? Face pinched in obvious distress, no light behind his eyes and right arm in a sling? Tsuna had never seen him before.

"Why did you - Why were you - " Tsuna just couldn't seem to get a word out. His throat felt tight, and that was somehow more painful than the throbbing in both of his elbows. But still, Yamamoto said nothing. He wouldn't even look Tsuna in the eye. "Yamamoto-kun, what were you  _doing_?"

The beta shrugged. "I was gonna... jump. I guess."

"Jump," Tsuna echoed. "You were going to jump? Off the school roof?  _Why_?"

"My arm," Yamamoto replied, voice soft and quiet in a way Tsuna had never heard. "I messed it up pretty bad. They don't know if it'll go back to the way it was."

Tsuna heard the words, but he couldn't make them stick, couldn't make them mean whatever Yamamoto wanted them to mean. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Yamamoto met his eyes again, and Tsuna was floored by the pain and desperation he saw there. The beta smelled keenly of grief, so thick and strong that Tsuna almost wanted to stop breathing just to get away from it. "If my arm is busted for good, I can't play baseball anymore." He glanced away again, tears building in his eyes. "Baseball... it's all I have."

He said it in a whisper, like Tsuna wasn't supposed to hear. He did anyway. And he thought Yamamoto was wrong, wrong wrong wrong.

Yamamoto turned to him sharply, brown eyes wide and wet. Tsuna realized he must have been speaking out loud. "You're wrong," Tsuna said again, fisting his hands in his lap. "You have a lot. More than I'm sure you realize." Yamamoto remained silent, so Tsuna pushed on. "So what if you can't play baseball anymore? I know you love it, I know you're  _good_ at it, but baseball doesn't define you. If you couldn't play, you'd still be Yamamoto, wouldn't you? People would still like you. You'd still be a good person."

Tsuna believed it whole-heartedly. He and Yamamoto were hardly friends, but the number of people who didn't actively make Tsuna's life difficult were a precious few, and he took note of them all. Yamamoto had never joined in on the jeering, and he always tried to diffuse the situation if he was around to witness it. They existed in completely different social spheres, but there had always been a mutual respect between them. Tsuna didn't want to see Yamamoto hurting, not when he so clearly didn't deserve it.

"And you don't know for sure that your arm won't heal properly," Tsuna pointed out, feeling almost self-conscious as Yamamoto continued to stare at him, unblinking. "Don't just...  _do that_ when you don't know for sure what the future holds. Please?"

Yamamoto didn't say anything, and for a moment, Tsuna panicked, wondering what he would do if Yamamoto ignored him and tried to jump again. Tsuna would try to stop him again, definitely. They would fall together if they had to, but Tsuna didn't want to think about what that would do to his mom and Yamamoto's dad.

Slowly, Yamamoto shook his head. He was still staring at Tsuna, but his scent was starting to become less sour with grief. "I won't," he said, and Tsuna sagged with relief. "You're right. I'm... I'm sorry, Tsuna."

"You don't need to be sorry. I know how you feel. I know it sucks," Tsuna replied. 

Yamamoto physically jolted, brow furrowing and mouth falling open the slightest bit. Tsuna tensed in response, unsure of what he'd done wrong but knowing that he'd upset the beta somehow. He'd seen that look before on his mom right before she lectured him for one thing or another.

Thankfully, the bell went off before either of them could say anything else, signifying the end of lunch. Tsuna scrambled to his feet, dusting off his pants before offering a hand to Yamamoto, who was still watching him intently. "C'mon," Tsuna urged, "we don't want to be late."

Yamamoto took his hand after a brief moment. Not that Tsuna thought he wouldn't, but the fear was there nonetheless, of being rebuffed, overlooked. He moved to pull away as soon as Yamamoto righted himself, skin itching from the unfamiliar contact, but Yamamoto held fast.

Tsuna looked up at him curiously, wondering if there was anything else that really needed to be said. 

He wasn't expecting Yamamoto to smile.

***

"Tsuna! Hey, Tsuna!"

The omega startled, almost tripping over himself as his name was shouted from across the courtyard. He jerked his head in the direction of the noise, watching as Yamamoto excused himself from his teammates and came jogging over, trademark smile firmly in place.

They'd been speaking a lot more since the incident on the roof, although Yamamoto was usually the instigator. Tsuna wasn't comfortable having anyone's attention, and it was hard to stay under the radar nowadays when the loudest person in school seemed to always want his attention.

Tsuna supposed it was a necessary sacrifice. At least Yamamoto was alive and smiling.

"Hey," Tsuna greeted the beta as he got closer. "What's up?"

"Where you headed?" Yamamoto asked. "Aren't you coming to the field with us?"

Tsuna almost winced.  _Almost._ He couldn't get away with it every time, but some days he just couldn't bring himself to partake in gym class with his classmates and snuck off to the nurse's office instead. He wasn't in the mood to be picked last, or worse, listen to the teams argue over who was going to get stuck with him. Not to mention that his body was sore in various places from having pulled Yamamoto off the ledge a few days previously. 

Usually no one cared or noticed when Tsuna snuck off. Yamamoto certainly hadn't before, so Tsuna wasn't sure what had changed. 

"Not today," Tsuna said, trying to make his tone sound regretful. "I'm not feeling too well. I was actually headed to the nurse's office."

Yamamoto's cheerful expression melted away, and Tsuna almost felt guilty over the concern he saw in the beta's expression. "Are you okay? Want me to come with you?"

Tsuna shook his head fiercely. Yamamoto's friends from the baseball team were watching them closely, and Tsuna just wanted to finish this exchange and run off. "No, no, it's okay. You go on ahead, I promise I can get there on my own."

"You sure?" Yamamoto asked, tilting his head slightly. It was hard to be annoyed with him when he looked so much like a giant puppy. "It wouldn't take long - "

"I'm positive," Tsuna insisted, perhaps too forcefully judging by the way Yamamoto blinked down at him in surprise. "Don't worry about me, Yamamoto-kun, you go on ahead."

Yamamoto bit at his bottom lip, something he did when he was thinking hard about something, Tsuna had noticed, and turned to shout over his shoulder at his friends. "Hey, you guys go on without me. I'm gonna go to the nurse with Tsuna."

Tsuna gaped at Yamamoto, and from the expressions on the other boys’ faces, they were just as confused. "How come?" called one of the boys, a tall, blond alpha whose voice Tsuna had never particularly liked. "It's not like you're his alpha, Yamamoto, that's not your job!" 

The other four boys around him began to snicker, and Tsuna tried very hard not to take the exchange to heart. He knew the others were just fooling around with Yamamoto, but knowing that the joke was at Tsuna's expense made the whole thing very not funny. 

Yamamoto, to his credit, didn't even react, just smiled at Tsuna and jerked his head in the direction of the main school building. Wordlessly, Tsuna followed after him, leaving the still laughing boys behind.

The hallways in the first floor were empty, bereft of the third years who normally loitered outside their classrooms at this time of day. Entrance exams were soon, so Tsuna supposed to older kids probably knew better than hang around where teachers could easily descend upon them for wasting their time. Tsuna stared at his feet as he trailed behind Yamamoto, trying to find words to fill the awkward silence between them.

Eventually, Tsuna took a deep breath. "Yamamoto – “

“Don't mind those guys, Tsuna," Yamamoto said at the same time, falling back so he was walking beside Tsuna, not ahead of him. "They were being dumb." When Tsuna only looked at him in confusion, Yamamoto clarified, "I know you don't need an alpha to escort you places. They know that, too. They just like to be jerks sometimes."

"Oh," Tsuna said, not sure what to do with the information. That wasn't really why he was bothered, but he wasn't about to tell Yamamoto that. "Thanks."

Yamamoto hummed in response, seemingly done with the conversation. Tsuna wasn't nearly as reassured. "Yamamoto-kun, you really didn't need to come with me. You may not be able to join in, but I know you like watching the others."

"You aren't wrong, but it really isn't as fun when I just have to sit there," Yamamoto insisted, but Tsuna couldn't help but feel like he was lying. Yamamoto was clearly going out of his way to be nice to Tsuna, maybe out of some need to repay him for saving his life. Tsuna appreciated the sentiment, really, but he couldn't bear the thought of receiving this kind of attention out of responsibility or pity.

"But um, uh, I kinda wanted to see the nurse, too," Yamamoto said, rubbing at the back of his neck almost sheepishly. "My arm kinda... hurts. Has been all morning."

"Oh, okay," Tsuna replied. He wasn't surprised, not really, but the admission still made him feel oddly heavy. "You should've gone to the nurse earlier, Yamamoto-kun. Don't just suffer in silence."

Yamamoto began to laugh, although Tsuna wasn't sure why. Despite his unease, Tsuna found himself laughing, too. Yamamoto was just infectious like that. "Okay, okay, I won't do it again. Pinky promise."

He wiggled his wrapped pinky in Tsuna's general direction, a cheeky grin on his face, all white teeth and dimples. Tsuna rolled his eyes, exasperated, but he couldn't help his returning smile.

***

The first time it happened, Tsuna almost passed out from shock. It was early on a Tuesday morning, right after homeroom but before their math teacher had made her way to the classroom. Tsuna was trying not to fall asleep, rubbing at his eyes every few minutes and stifling yawns as best he could. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, too worried about Yamamoto, who had a doctor's appointment the next morning.

He was losing the sling for the first time in weeks, and they'd finally be able to give a more definitive answer on whether or not the beta could continue playing baseball. Yamamoto had seemed optimistic, and Tsuna was inclined to believe that things would be fine. But some part of him still worried. He knew how crushed Yamamoto would be if he had to hang up his bat and glove for good.

"Are you okay, Tsuna-kun?" Tsuna jerked his head up, shifting in his seat to glance over his shoulder. Kyouko smiled at him, leaning over her desk on folded forearms. "You keep nodding off. Not enough sleep last night?"

"Kyouko-chan! No, no, I'm fine." Tsuna absolutely hated how flustered he got when he received even a fraction of Sasagawa Kyouko's attention. He just couldn't help it! The other omega's scent was so comforting, and her eyes and voice were always kind. She reminded Tsuna of Nana in a lot of ways. "It's just been one of those mornings, you know?"

Kyouko nodded, her smile taking on an almost sympathetic edge. "I'm sure Yamamoto-kun will be fine. He's been really careful with his arm lately. He'll be back on the diamond before you know it!"

Of course she was able to see right through to the heart of the matter. Tsuna wondered if he was truly that transparent, or if his scent was giving off more stress than he realized. "You're right. I just... worry about him, I guess."

"He's really lucky to have a friend like you, Tsuna-kun," Kyouko said earnestly, and Tsuna just... short-circuited. 

_Friend? Did she just..._

The classroom door slid open before Tsuna could really even begin to process what Kyouko had said. He turned back around in his chair, completely expecting to see their math teacher but finding a sling-less Yamamoto instead. Tsuna was on his feet before he even really thought about it, most of the eyes in the classroom turning to him as he blurted out, "Yamamoto-kun!"

Yamamoto hurried into the room, passing his desk near the front (where his friends were), and moving further back, toward Tsuna and Kyouko. Tsuna couldn't get a good read on him, wasn't sure how to take the blank look on Yamamoto's face. His scent was fairly normal, but there was some underlying  _off-ness_  about it that Tsuna couldn't really identify. 

But even if he could have worked out how the beta was feeling, Tsuna never would've expected Yamamoto to walk right up to him and yank him into an embrace.

It felt like the temperature in the room dropped. At least to Tsuna, anyway. His classmates were still huddled up in their own conversations, but the chatter had quieted somewhat, and all eyes were definitely on them.

Tsuna stood frozen, the bottom half of his face smothered by Yamamoto's shoulder. Yamamoto was quite a bit taller than him. He had to stoop over just to fit his face in the curve of Tsuna's neck and shoulder. It couldn't have been even remotely comfortable. But still, Yamamoto held on. It didn't seem like he'd let go until someone said something.

And Tsuna was _going_ to say something. Really. Once his brain learned how to work again, he was going to ask Yamamoto how his appointment had gone, what the plan was going forward - if there even was one - and he absolutely wasn't going to mention how incredibly awkward and out of the blue this was. 

But then Tsuna felt the hot exhale against his neck, felt how Yamamoto's chest expanded against his sternum on his next deep inhale. And Tsuna probably would've fainted were it not for how his body had locked up, because Yamamoto had just  _scented him_ in front of  _everyone._  That wasn't something that just happened between classmates in middle school. Tsuna himself had never even scented anyone aside from his own mother before, and he really only did it when he was half asleep or feeling particularly sad.

"Yamamoto-kun?" Tsuna managed to say, voice muffled by the beta's shoulder. Hopefully no one could hear how his voice was trembling. "Is - Is everything okay?"

 _Finally,_ Yamamoto pulled away. But he kept his hands on Tsuna's shoulders, staring down at Tsuna with wet eyes and a wobbly smile. "I can still play baseball," he breathed. "Tsuna, my arm is gonna be fine!"

"S - See, I told you so," Tsuna huffed, hoping his face didn't look as hot as it felt. "Geez, you had me really worried. Just  _say_ something next time, don't go all quiet."

Yamamoto just laughed, his scent finally going back to something resembling normal as he hugged Tsuna again. 

And Tsuna was terrified by how right it felt.


End file.
